Day 63. A Sunny Start to the South Island. January 4, 2016.

32.5 km

Captain Cooks Monument, Ship Cove km 1700 to Bay of Many Coves DOC Campsite km 1732.5

I woke up to blue sky today. Finally. I needed to hitch back to Picton by 8:30am so I left the hostel at 7. I asked a guy, Peter, with a fishing boat at a gas station and I had a ride. Easy, peasy.

My hitch. Nice name for a boat.

Picton harbor.

As I was walking to the water taxi I heard my name called out. Nathan and Owen (Timex, who I met on the Appalachian Trail and is here to hike the South Island) were getting the same water taxi. So much for my thought that I was now really solo hiking.

The water taxi at Ship Cove.

Captain Cook Monument

We took advantage of the opportunity to slack pack the first 25 km today. The water taxi dropped our packs off at Camp Bay. We picked them up and split a very expensive but delicious pizza at the cafe. This isn’t wilderness here.

The wonderful weather and views reinforced my decision to wait out the rain.

The Queen Charlotte Track is 66 km and is some of the smoothest, easiest track of the entire TA. I hiked, biked and kayaked this track in 2007. It was nice to see it again.

I stopped at this campsite because it was 7pm and I think my body isn’t used to hiking anymore. Nathan and Owen kept going for another 11 km. I am the only one camping here.  It’s